Grandma Fights Off Bra Strangler

A Kentucky grandmother says she fought off a crazed woman who was strangling her with a bra by bashing her in the head with a ceramic chicken. Patricia Leece, 61, now says that chicken likely saved her life.

"I thought I was going to die that night," the Lexington woman told WKYT while recounting her harrowing 15- to 20-minute battle with her Monday morning intruder.

It was her door bell ringing and a constant banging on her door that Leece said prompted her to open up, while believing that it could have been her granddaughter outside. Unknown to her at the time, police said 31-year-old Ashley Sies had been going door-to-door carrying out the same wild behavior while hoping someone would let her in.

"Of course it was me," Leece said in a quiet voice.

Sies allegedly pounced on her.

Police said she repeatedly hit Leece, ripped out a clump of her hair, and then lethally wrapped her bra around the grandmother's neck.

"She choked me down and we fought for a good 15 to 20 minutes. Finally I saw one of my (ceramic) chickens on the floor so I picked it up and started bashing her on the head with it," she recalled.

With Sies knocked out on the ground she said she called police and then hid in her bathroom.

Police said it was the suspect who answered the door to responding officers. She was taken from the scene and hospitalized while suspected of taking an unknown narcotic, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.